ES Setif shocked Esperance with a 1-0 victory at the Stade Olympique de Rades to advance to the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League.
Esperance would have been ruing their opening leg 0-0 draw having missed three one on one chances in Algiers in a game they completely dominated but would have been confident going into the retrun leg in Tunis.
They had to make do without their fans with the Stade Olympique de Rades closed off due to crowd troubles in their previous games – something the Confederation of African Football took zero tolerance towards.
Radi Jaidi’s once again enjoyed the bulk of the possession and chanced with 69% of the ball in the opening half, but it was the Algerians who took the lead going into the break through veteran playmaker Abdelmoumene Djabou.
The 35-year-old prodded the ball home past a clearly incense Moez Ben Cherifia as it was their first chance of the game and their only shot on target in the entire opening 45 minutes.
It was more of the same one-way traffic in the second half as Taraji pushed plenty of bodies forward with waves of attacks but Setif held firm with incredible defensive resilience much to the frustration of Jaidi and his men.
The Algiers based who are ninth in the Algerian top-flight advanced to the last four as they held on until full-time as they continue their incredible quest to win the title for the first time since 2015, while Taraji, the four-time winners’ wait will continue for another season.
